This course should help you to:
Add a line to the hackpad!
Calculate internal gravity and pressure in planetesimals
Estimate subsidence of volcanic edifices on planets
Map faults on the surface of Mars
Map faults on the surface of Mars
Map faults on the surface of Mars
Model the thermal evolution of meteorite parent bodies
Plot and analyse x-ray element maps
By the end of this section, you should…
Source material: Ten Simple Rules for Better Figures by Rougier, Droettboom and Bourne, 2014
Who will be reading it, in what context?
Trying to pick the right plot for your use-case
Seaborn categorises its functions for you
See “Overview of seaborn plotting functions” from the Seaborn docs
Also, check and see what other researchers in your field are using…
Technical considerations:
What might a caption look like…
Of course, the solution might also be that a different plot shows your results more clearly… remember Rule 2: Identify Your Message!
According to Edward Tufte 1983, colour can be either your greatest ally or your worst enemy if not used properly (Rougier et al., 2014).
Estimate subsidence of volcanic edifices on planets - using both colour and symbol shape to differentiate.
Topographical map of Mars; co-ordinates system not plotted to avoid discussion on Martian projection systems!
Rainbow colour maps such as “jet” have previously been popular despite their issues. “Plasma” is “perceptually uniform” but can obscure details in extreme values.
“Terrain” has similar issues to “jet”…
Cividis is both “perceptually uniform” and also appears the same to audiences with and without colour vision deficiencies, but has the same issues as “plasma” with obscuring features in plots with a wide dynamic range.
Spring is a terrible colour map, even if it’s pretty.
It can be easier to see the issues in an image than in a map
Sometimes you do need a plot that will pick up these sorts of features in the dark and bright areas!
Other packages such as “Cmocean” also provide well-designed scientific colour maps.
Other packages such as “Cmocean” also provide well-designed scientific colour maps… and some strange ones
Plot and analyse x-ray element maps
How can colour infer order?
Data can be encoded by other means aside from colour… which of these could be ordered or infer order?
It is a good practice to, where possible, avoid conveying information purely through color. You should always consider adding other ways to convey the same information besides just color.
Ensure that colour does not infer order where there is none!
This seems straightforward - to make a good scientific visualisations, don’t do academic fraud - but actually, it’s easier to accidentally misrepresent data than you might think.
Unintentional misleading of your audience often arises through not fully understanding how you have visually encoded your data.
Stacked barplots; both panels show the same data
Bubble plot, where “z” value is shown by both colour map and size
All of these represent the same data…
Both represent the same data…
Both represent the same data…
Both represent the same data…
But do:
If your figure is confusing, try fixing it by removing something rather than adding extra labels!
Yikes.
Jet is rubish, and pretty ugly… but Spring is also a terrible colour map, even if it’s pretty.
Tools and libraries within Python; * denotes library used in this course